Colombia's plan to hire students as army informers faces flak

[Judi Lynn]

Colombia's plan to hire students as army informers faces flak
Irish Sun
Friday 29th January, 2010
(IANS)

Bogota, Jan 29 (IANS/EFE) The Colombian government's plan to recruit college students as military informers has evoked criticism across the country.

President Alvaro Uribe's decision to turn university students in the crime-ridden northwestern city of Medellin into army informers was an act of desperation and a sign that the violence was out of control, presidential candidate of the opposition Liberal Party Rafael Pardo said.

Pardo, a former defence minister, said that making a specific group part of the security forces' intelligence network means 'putting it at risk, making it less effective and also provoking retaliation'.

Independent presidential hopeful and former Medellin mayor Sergio Fajardo said the plan is 'a monumental error that runs counter to what education should be all about'.

More:
http://story.irishsun.com/index.php/ct/9/cid/2411cd3571b4f088/id/594688/cs/1/

[Peace Patriot]

1. See my comments at the Mod-created dupe post in this Forum.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=405x29770

In particular, I want it to be noted (from the last sentence in the cited article) that there has been a 108% increase in homicides in a major city in Colombia in 2009.

The corpo-fascist press--and rightwing DUers--go on and on about the "crime rate" in Venezuela. Will they lament this as well? Do they ever lament the OFFICIAL crime in Colombia--bribery, corruption, Uribe's many ties to drug trafficking and death squads, brutal displacement of 2-3 million peasant farmers, the Colombian military responsible for about half of the murders of union leaders in Colombia (and its closely tied death squads responsible for the other half--according to Amnesty International)?

No, they don't. Well, here is another fact that is going to get black-holed: a 108% increase in homicides in a major city in Colombia in 2009.